


Empty Quiver

by ShabbyChicGeek3



Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Arrow Necklace, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov Romance, Clintasha - Freeform, F/M, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Thor Is Not Stupid, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Has Issues, air vents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2015-01-25
Packaged: 2018-03-04 11:25:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3066086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShabbyChicGeek3/pseuds/ShabbyChicGeek3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint is tired of losing his arrows, and running out of them mid fight. After a dangerous mission where he runs out, Clint talks to Tony about upgrading the arrows to be self retrieving. However, the experimental arrows get loose in Avengers Tower and go crazy! How will the Avengers deal with them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was becoming a problem for the rest of the team now, not just for Barton. They were on a mission, taking down a small platoon of Hydra soldiers. It was a pretty easy mission, the whole team didn't even go. It was Steve, Clint and Natasha. They were in the middle of the fight, soldiers were surrounding them. Steve was wrestling with one of them, Natasha was taking down everything in her path. Clint had found an elevated spot, and was taking as many shots as he could. And he was feeling pretty good, he in a rhythm of shooting, was taking down good guys, and his team had this in control.

Then he saw it. And Natasha didn't. A soldier was behind her, he had a knife, and was pulling back to throw it into her. Clint reached for an arrow, his fist closed in around itself. He was out. He was too far to stop the man, he had no weapons, he was helpless, she was going to die.

He shouted her name, she turned and was too slow. He watched as she saw the soldier, poised to throw the knife, and she knew she was about to die because he had failed. "Black Widow!" He shouted, sticking to code names, not that they mattered anymore. She looked at him, and then, magically, a different knife was sticking out of the soldiers chest. Natasha lunged forward, desperation in her eyes, she turned and plunged her own knife into the soldier, before she realized he was already dead. Clint ran towards her, pulling his own knife from his waist. Idiot, if he had grabbed that instead of an arrow he would have saved her.

It wasn't hard to tell who had. Steve was already back to fighting, but unless one of the enemy had had a change of heart, obviously Cap had saved Natasha. His knife was now gone, all he had to fight with was his shield.

Now at his partners side, Clint was a killing machine. He and Natasha fought back to back, the pure adrenaline of one of them almost dying fueled the pair, and they were ruthless. They destroyed everything that got near them, swiftly and without thought. It was pure instinct. Watching them fight was an art, they fit together, predicting each others moves, covering their partner, these two had led lives that led them to never trust anyone. It was how they had been raised from childhood.

But f you watched them fight, it was clear that they trusted one another.

After, when everyone around them was dead or unconscious,the three Avengers gathered together in the center of the room. Steve kicked his shield back into his hand, and walked over to the man who had almost stabbed Natasha. Grimacing, he yanked the knife from the mans body, wiped the blood off on the corpses uniform. He put the weapon at his side, and explained, "It was Bucky's I'd hate to lose it." Hawkeye nodded, he didnt really care. He almost always had to go around and retrieve whatever arrows he could find, a messy stomach churning task that he hated. But one that was needed, his arrows were expensive, and Coulson kept complaining about the budget and how he couldn't keep buying clint a new quiver every single mission. So, he started yanking arrows out as Steve and Natasha talked.

"Cap, thanks for covering me. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't if you had thrown that knife." Steve blushed, glanced at Clint. "Oh, you would have been fine, you can handle yourself Natasha." And that was the end of the discussion. For them. Meanwhile, Hawkeye furiously yanked arrows out of bodies. He was so mad at himself, he almost wished he had a whole other army to fight. Then he would be the one to protect Natasha, it was his duty to her. They protected one another, it was just a fact. And he had almost failed, and then Captain America had saved the day. He was grateful of course, but felt like the biggest loser in the world for almost letting his best friend die.

He was quiet all the way back to Avengers Tower. Knowing exactly why he was upset, Natasha stayed close to him and didn't try to make any kind of conversation. Except when Cap left them for a few minutes to call Agent Hill, and she whispered in Clint's ear. "Barton, you did everything. We both know that, just let it go. It's ok. We're ok." For a second he thought she was about to kiss him. Right here out in the open, as Clint and Natasha. Not as part of a disguise. Then she pulled away at the last second. And they got on the plane and went home.

The entire plane ride, Clint was forming a plan so that he would never lose another arrow. He couldn't wait to talk to Stark.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as they returned to the tower, Clint went off in search of Tony. It wasn't hard to find him, he just had to go to the workshop. It was a safe bet that most of the time Tony would be there, but even if he wasn't you could usually see find evidence of what he was working on and where he might be.

If worse came to worse Clint knew he could just ask Jarvis where the master of the house was. But where was the fun in that? After all, tracking people was his freaking job. The day he needed to ask a talking computer how to find someone would be the day he quit his job.

Sure enough, Clint went to Tony and Peppers floor and heard loud rock and roll music pounding out from the workshop. Clint walked to the door, and punched the code into the keypad to get inside. Tony made a big deal about having his own personal space, but Natasha made it her personal goal to always know his current code, and text it to the rest of the team. It always annoyed Tony that the entire team could usually get into his room, and annoyed him more that he had yet to figure out how Natasha learned his passwords so quickly.

Clint entered the room, and immediately had to duck under a table for cover as a metal glove flew towards his head. "Christ Stark! Control your damn suits!" Clint yelped. suit parts were flying all around the room, flying above them wearing part of his suit was Tony, imperiously conducting the pieces of his minions. "Geez Barton, man up. If you didn't want me to almost kill you, you shouldn't have come in here! We've been over this! If you people want to stay alive, keep out of this room." Tony made some seemingly random gestures with his hands, and the flying pieces dropped to the floor.

"Ugh, why won't they go back to their garage when I do that? It's not WORKING!" Tony dropped to the ground, picked up a helmet. "What do you want birdseed? Twigs for the nest? Maybe something for spider?" Clint rolled his eyes, and dropped his mostly empty quiver onto the table, a couple arrows spilled out from it. "As much as I really hate to ask, I need help, Stark. I hoped you could give me some upgrades."

Interest piqued, Tony walked over and picked up the quiver. "Well, what do you want? Exploding arrows? A laser pointer? Poison tips? Electrocuting tips? Adamantium tips? Tips that-" Clint interrupted. "Stark, don't go crazy. I just want some arrows that will come back to me after I shoot them."

Tony sighed, "That's all? No one comes to me with a challenge anymore. Give me an hour, then come back. Leave the bow so I can insert the retrieval beacon. Sure you don't want some more exciting upgrades?" Clint dropped the weapon down, and warned, "No Stark, mess with anything else and I'll sic Natasha on you."

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Clint was back in his room, on the floor that he and Natasha shared. Stark had built each of them their own floor, until he learned the two assassins preferred to be stay close. So he had just moved Natasha up to the top floor with Clint. They had really appreciated it, not that Natasha would admit it to Starks face.

Clint thought about going into Natasha's room, then decide he would rather have some time alone. He took a quick shower, then grabbed another bow and some arrows to bring to the shooting range the team shared.

He was still so mad at himself for not having one arrow for Natasha. It took half an hour of shooting before he calmed down enough to even think clearly about the whole situation.

He had broken a promise to her. In the end that was what this came down to.

They had been partners for about two years when it happened, and were finally starting to truly connect. They were in Thailand fighting, and it was going downhill. Clint was almost out of arrows, he only had a couple left. Then he was down to his last one, looking for the best target to take down before he could gather more arrows. He saw her, she was surrounded, and one of them was lifting a gun, aiming it at her. Clint had shot him, then made his way to his partners side.

Together they had taken down the enemy on that mission, and got on a plane back to shield headquarters. Natasha still wasn't talkative then, especially after rough missions like this. So Clint had been surprised when she had spoken.

"You saved my life with that arrow. Thanks." She didn't look at him when she spoke, she was never very good at saying thank you. Clint pretended to be adding on his fingers when he joked, "Hmm, so according to my calculations that makes the score 500, to 1. I'll catch up to you someday!" Natasha almost smiled at this, in her head she remembered all the times this man had saved her. The first time he had saved her.

"It means a lot. It's good to know I have someone who- will fight for me."She said. Clint smiled at her, "I've got your back Nat. I'll always save an arrow for you."

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He knew she probably didn't even remember he had said that. But he did. And until today he had always kept an arrow for her. And today, the first time he just couldn't save an arrow, she had almost died because of it. He was furious at himself.

But he had made his mistake already, everyone was still alive, and he couldn't change it. He would just have let it go, and move on. He let loose an arrow without looking at where it landed, knowing it would hit the target. He paused when the sound of it hitting the target sounded strange- doubled. He looked behind him, and saw not one but two arrows sticking out of the wall.

"What the heck?" He muttered, quickly scanning the room to make sure he was still alone. He seemed to be. Then, the second arrow yanked itself from the target. And started hurtling towards Clint. The same moment, Tony's voice came on over the intercom. "Emergency guys! We have loose arrows that may or may not be trying to hunt us running loose in the tower. Long story, I swear this is all Clint's fault! Stay alive, I'll be down here trying to figure this out.

And then, something fell down on top of Clint, pinning him to the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

Clint instinctively threw a fist up, to punch whoever had tackled him. But the other person grabbed his fist, and he got to see their face before he could hit them. "Natasha!" He cried out in surprise. She pushed him down, and laid herself flat down on top of him as the arrow wooshed over them, diving into a wall. "Get up, go!" She ordered, rolling off of him and running for the door. Of course he followed her, when he heard another arrow coming up behind him, he pushed Natasha out through the door, and slammed it behind them.

Clint would have been confused or surprised that this was happening, but he had lived here almost two years. Not a lot could surprise him anymore. He still had his bow in hand, and a quiver on his back. He wondered if he could split a flying arrow with another arrow…. Heck, that sounded awesome! Hopefully he would get to try that soon!

Natasha was scanning the hallway, the only weapon she had was the knife in her hand. "A bit underarmed there Nat, that's not like you." Clint smirked, as he pulled an arrow into position on his own weapon. Natasha scowled at him. "Shut up Barton. I was just going to check on you, then go back to my room. If I'd known I would have to fight off an army of arrows you and Tony whipped up, I obviously would have brought more than a freaking knife." She sounded irritated, but she was smiling a bit at Clint. "Were you guys working on self retrieving arrows or something? I've only told you yo need those for forever yo know. I want credit for the idea once it works, just so you know." Clint laughed, "You're not going to sue me for stealing your idea, right?" She just shrugged, and rolled her eyes at him.

They walked down the hallway, and got into the elevator. "What else do you have?" Natasha asked, nodding at his bow. "Just this and the arrows," Clint admitted. "Do you just have the knife?" She nodded, and sighed. "We're going soft Barton. A few years ago I wouldn't be caught dead without a gun on me…." She looked extremely irritated at herself. Clint knew it was hard for her to let go of the horrific training the room had conditioned into her, it had taken him years to convince her to not carry a gun at all times. And still, he knew the only time she wouldn't was somewhere like in Avengers Tower. A place she felt safe. He seriously hoped this wouldn't make her regress to carrying a gun all the time again…..

Natasha was studying the buttons of the elevator. "Do you know where the others are?" She asked, trying to decide where they should go first. Clint studied the options. "Well we know Stark is wussying out, hiding in his workshop. Let's assume he's fine, so that we don't have to go down and help him yet." This got a laugh from Natasha. "Ok, we'll leave him down there for now." Clint tried to remember where everyone else could be… "Maybe we should check Cap's room? I mean, he seemed pretty exhausted. And if he's asleep with rogue arrows running loose…." He didn't have to say more, Tasha hit the button for Steve's floor.

*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)

Thor had been in the kitchen, looking for some food he could try and make for his lunch. He was learning more and more about this world, especially after living here with Jane. But he was tired of being so dependent on other people here, and was determined to become more self sufficient. So, now he was hungry. And instead of asking Steve or Clint for help (or worse, eating more random junk food as a sorry excuse for a meal) he was trying to make macaroni and cheese. Then Tony made his announcement.

Thor glanced around the kitchen, and called his hammer to his hand. He moved into the living room, and sure enough found three arrows whizzing around. He began twirling his hammer, and cried out, "Ah! How dare you interrupt my attempt to make myself a meal of lunch, foolish arrows!" He shouldn't have spoken. Maybe Tony had been trying to program the arrows so they would be retrieved at the sound of Cint's voice. Because these arrows heard Thor, and all turned towards him. And began whizzing towards him.

Almost casually, Thor gave his hammer one last turn in his hand, then shot out three zaps of lightning, turning the arrows into melted unrecognizable lumps sizzling on the ground. Making sure there were not any more flying missiles about to come towards him, Thor threw out what was left of the arrows, and wondered if he should go help the rest of the team. Maybe he should… But he really wanted to get some food first. They could handle themselves for now.


	4. Chapter 4

In the elevator, Clint and Natasha evaluated what weapons they had, and discussed how to fight an army of arrow that wanted to kill them. Figuring this was as safe a place as any to figure out their plan, Natasha had asked Jarvis to halt the elevator for a few minutes. She had then produced an additional knife, and was now cursing her lack of a gun. She knew it wouldn't have been extremely helpful against an arrow, but it would probably be better than a knife. "Clint, when this is over we should train and see if I can shoot an arrow as you shoot it at me. That would be a good skill to have." Without skipping a beat Clint said, "Sure, sounds cool. Good idea, let's try that later."

He hardly had more weapons than Natasha did at the moment. His bow and arrow, and his own knife. He was trying to think of the smartest way to incapacitate the missiles. "Ok, I am guessing Stark put all of the hardware in the tail of the arrow. So we want to either trick the arrows into embedding themselves into something they can't get out of, or break the ends of them. Just stay alert, and lets get this done so we can kill Stark." Natasha ruefully shook her head, "I hate to admit it but the man is a genius. A mad genius. He had what, half an hour? And he made your arrows self propelling, provided them with some artificial intelligence, and targeting technology. I really am going to kill him."

Clint snorted, then had a thought. "Jarvis!" He called out to the elevator. "Yes sir?" "Could you tell us where the arrows are or how many are in here?" There was a pause, before the AI replied. "I do apologize sir, When Mr. Stark locked down his laboratory, he accidentally cut the feed of many of my cameras. I am unsure as to why he did this, and am trying to help him resort visually to all rooms in the tower." The two assassins frowned at this, was Stark toying with them? It seemed unlikely that he would cut the feed of his own cameras by accident. Had they been infiltrated by an enemy? Was Stark being the worlds biggest jerk by pulling the dumbest most dangerous prank ever? Before they figured out if they had to prepare for a massive fight, or decide how best to torture Stark, the two assassins still thought it was best to check on the rest of the team before anything else. Clint punched the button for Steve's floor.

The doors opened, and knife in hand Natasha entered the room first, scanning it for any arrows. Clint followed close behind, they surmised they were safe for now. "Steve, you awake?" Clint called out. No one answered. Caring less about privacy than her partner, Natasha walked into Captain Rogers bedroom without knocking- only to find him sound asleep. He really must have been exhausted if he had been able to sleep through Tony's announcement. She felt a bit guilty for waking the poor guy up. "You think we should wake him?" Natasha asked, already knowing the answer. Clint nodded, "Yeah, sure there aren't any arrows in here right now, but they are probably traveling through the air vents. One could come in and he wouldn't even know. We at least should make sure he knows what is going on."

A little bit of shaking and name shouting later, Steve was awake and alert. He wiped the exhaustion from his eyes as he listened to his friends explain the situation. Soon he had his shield in hand, and was offering any weapons in his room to the two assasians. Natasha took a couple of guns the Super Soldier had laying around, but Clint felt ok with what he had. The archer had never been at his best with a gun anyway. After discussing what they should do next, they surmised Banner was likely in his lab. And since that was just a floor above Tony's. he was well within the danger zone. So they all agreed to head down in the general direction of the Science Bros.

Maybe it would have been smarter to start hunting down the arrows first, but the thought of Banner hulking out over an unexpected arrow was not pleasant. So soon the tired trio was on Banners floor, though they would have to get through several rooms before they hit the lab.

Natasha took the lead, and Steve was right behind her, shield in hand. It irritated Clint to see the other man protecting her. Natasha didn't need protection right now, certainly not from Captain America. Just the sight of that stupid shield sent waves of annoyance through the archer. Clint was in a surely mood- usually he liked Steve well enough. Today, right now, he practically despised the man. Shouldn't he grateful for the fact he had saved Nat's life earlier? Whatever. Focus on one crazy thing at a time, Barton.

Clint walked around the perimeter of each room they entered, scanning corners, air vents, cursing Stark for going crazy on HIS arrows- Also kind of cursing himself for being dumb enough to ask for Stark's help. This was just like the disaster when Tony tried to update Nat's widow bites all over again. They were almost to the lab, scouting out the living room. A shadow caught Clint's eye, he peered into one of the vents. "Guys, might have an arrow here. Thought I saw something, but it's gone now. Be on guard." The attention of Steve and Clint was on the vent where the arrow had possibly been, but Natasha was better than that. If she wasn't she wouldn't have been able to stay alive for this long. Her eyes continued to scan the room, when she saw the arrow in the other vent, she didn't have time to speak. She raised her gun as a natural extension of her body, and fired two shots. She should have practiced hitting a moving arrow before now, maybe she should contact the Red Room and have them add this skill to their teaching curriculum. The second bullet almost made contact with the bottom of the arrow, but it was too late.

Clint turned around, just in time to see Nat roll to try and avoid the arrow. It almost missed her. She didn't make a sound as the missile buried itself into her, Clint could see the other end of the weapon sticking out of his partner. He had failed her again, the second time in the last 24 hours.

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	5. Chapter 5

Clint crushed down his instincts to drop everything and run to Natasha's side the second he realized she was hurt- Better to take a couple extra seconds to ensure there were no more damn killer arrows flying around the room. Hawkeye looked around quickly, and not seeing any more deadly missiles, dropped everything to be at Nat's side.

The two of them had been through this before- Natasha was already trying to tend to her injury as Clint evaluated how badly she was hurt, and the two spoke in a kind of short hand they had mastered over the years.

Natasha spoke through gritted teeth, "Went through the shoulder. Didn't hit bone, you need to help me." Clint turned Natasha over to better see the injury, "There's a lot of blood Nat, but the arrow head is stopping most of the bleeding. Seems like a good spot to be hit, don't think it hit anything important." Clint said this hesitantly, not wanting to reveal the worst of the news to his partner. Of course she had already guessed the fact that he was emitting. "Barton. It didn't go through all the way. Am I right? Barton, I can't see it, tell me I don't have to push this damn arrow through my shoulder, please." Clint stared at the very tip of the arrow that was barely poking out from Natasha's uniform- It had barely made it through her uniform, and only the very tip of it was poking out from her bleeding skin. The majority of the arrow head was still in The Black Widow.

Steve was trying to help now too. He had found a spare t-shirt of Banner's in the living room, and was trying to mop up some of the blood. "Barton, what do we do, what do we do? Do we call a hospital? Will she need surgery?" Natasha grimaced at this, practically snarling at the very idea. Clint explained as he analyzed how bad the his partner was hurt. "She might need surgery, but that would be very complicated, and would need more recovery time, plus not to mention Nat doesn't do surgeries. More likely we'll have to force the arrowhead out the rest of the way, so that we can cut it off, and pull the stick of it back out where it went in. Let's get her to Banner's lab, we should be able to fix her up there. You ok with that Nat?" Natasha nodded, and was already moving to stand up.

Steve looked horrified. "Are you sure? Wait, Natasha, sit down! No, we have to get you to a hospital, this can't be right!" Clint had helped Natasha stand up, and already the two of them were walking towards Bruce's lab. "Excuse me Captain, but I have given, and received more than a few arrow related injuries. Trust me, I know how to fix this." Clint said, pressing the t-shirt Steve had found against Natasha's injury, ignoring the fact the cloth was already drenched with blood.

With nothing else to say, Steve followed Strike Team Delta, still on the lookout for arrows, wondering how long it would be before he could go back to sleep- And when they would be able to go yell at Stark about what a horrible idea this had been.

Bruce Banner had a very special lab in Stark tower- One that could become Hulk proof at the press of a button. It had thick metal walls, and a door Tony had sworn the Hulk could not break through- Not that they'd had to test that yet. Unfortunately, that also meant the lab was soundproof to most any noises going on outside of it. So, Bruce Banner got quite the surprise when he was working on a new formula in his lab, and was interrupted by three members of his team storming into the room, two of whom were drenched in blood.

Banner didn't really have to ask, but he did anyway. "Is that one of the arrows that Stark was working on?" Natasha slumped down into the first chair that she saw, resisting the urge to just collapse onto the floor. "No Banner, Clint and I were training, and I decided it would be really great if he shot me in the shoulder. Wanted to see how much it would HURT. Now I know that it hurts like HELL, so would you PLEASE try and GET IT OUT, before I GO FIND STARK, AND STAB AN ARROW INTO HIS EYE SOCKET!"

A few grisly moments, the minimal amount of painkillers Banner insisted on administering, and many bandages later, the arrow had been removed. Bruce was still patching up Natasha's shoulder, asking if she was sure she didn't want more medicine, hinting it might be still be a good idea for her to get checked out at a Shield hospital, and trying to make her lay down and rest. But she was used to these kinds of injuries- And really all she wanted to do now was destroy the rest of those arrows, and maybe also destroy a bit of Tony. She had already made a joke that for payback she should stab what was left of the arrow through Tony's shoulder- At least, Bruce had thought it was a joke. But then Clint had been strangely eager to move the remains of the arrow out of his partners reach….

Now Natasha was trying to act like she was totally fine, insisting she had worse injuries than this all the time, and asking Bruce if he knew how many arrows Tony had programed. Bruce was trying to mop up the blood from the floor as he answered. "Um, well, Tony is kind of ignoring my calls and messages….. I think he's scared we're going to be mad at him, so he locked himself in his lab." Jarvis's voice came from the ceiling. "That is correct, Sir. Mr. Stark has locked his door, and refuses to speak with me. He said that for all he knows I might be on your side, and would try to lure him out of the lab, only for Agent Romanoff or Agent Barton to be there waiting to pummel him."

Natasha was biting her lip in pain, but everyone knew better than to ask if she wanted more pain killers. Clint grabbed her hand, and she squeezed it tightly. "Ok, Jarvis, let us know if he changes his mind or opens the doors to his lab. Idiot. Does anyone know how many arrows he even rigged up?" Steve spoke up now. "Well, that depends How many arrows did you give him Clint?" The archer winced, wishing he had never started this whole stupid mess. "Umm…. I don't know. Something like, two quivers full?" Natasha grimaced. "And, do you have any idea how many of those Stark messed with?" Banner answered the question. "Well, this is Tony we're talking about sooo if I had to guess- I'd say he probably did something to all of them."

They processed this information, each trying to think of an easy way to fix this situation. "Jarvis," Natasha said. "Are you sure you can't get through to Stark? If he would let me in his damn lab I could probably shut down whatever program he set up for the arrows." "I am sorry Agent Romanoff, I fear there is no way I can reach him at this moment. And as you know, the door is sealed. He is quite fearful that this mishap will anger some of you, to the extent that you would want to hurt him." "Yeah, well, he might not be wrong about that." Clint muttered.

Steve was talking to Bruce now, getting all the information on Tony's lab, and discussing ways they could get Natasha in there, to dismantle the arrow program. Meanwhile Clint was avoiding making eye contact with Natasha, knowing what she wanted them to do. He felt her eyes staring into him, finally he had to look at her. "Clint. Come on, we have to shut these stupid things down. And that means we have to get into Tony's lab. And since he is being an idiot and won't open the door…." "Naaaat….. It's one of my favorite secrets of the tower! We can't let him find out about it! If Star learns I have a way to get into his lab, AND watch him without his knowledge, think of all the fun we'll miss out on! Remember when I caught him watching Frozen in there? Remember the amazing video I got of that? Think of all the comedy we will miss out on if he finds out about that vent! All the private and personal moments of Tony Stark! All the potential black mail material! Isn't there another way we can get in?"

Natasha sighed, and reached for her gun, checking the knife was still at her side as well. "Come on Clint, we need to stop these before one of us gets seriously hurt. Or worse, before the damn things get outside. I promise if you let me use your secret vent, I''ll get a new way for you to spy on Stark. Deal?" Clint was pouting now. Using the vent to spy on the ridiculous things Tony did in his lab was one of his favorite pastimes… But Nat was right, They had to stop these arrows before things got out of control.

"Fine. I'll get in there, and make sure he let's you in the lab. I'll be back in ten minutes." But as Clint said this, Natasha stood up, and was already almost to the door. She smirked at Clint right before entering the hallway- "Come on Barton, I'm coming with you. Do you honestly think I would miss out on seeing the look on Stark's face when he realizes his "fortress of solitude" isn't quite as fortified as he thought it was? Plus the whole reason he's in there is because he's scared we're going to possibly injure or maim him. This is going to be so, much, fun."

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	6. Chapter 6

Normally Clint would have at least tried to convince natasha not to come with him, at least he would have been more adamant about her taking some medicine before following him. But honestly, time was kind of a huge factor here. It didn’t seem like the arrows were extremely intelligent (After all, if they were better at tracking, they probably would have found all of the Avengers by now.) but,who knew when they would get lucky again and stumble upon a route to the Avengers, and more injuries. The sooner these things were shut down the better, Clint didn’t have time for a pointless argument with his partner that they both knew he wouldn’t win. 

So, without speaking a word to each other, StrikeTeam Delta made their way through the halls, looking for the quickest route that would provide a path up into the vents, with their weapons held up at the ready- Or in Natasha’s case simply held at her side. She wouldn’t admit it but her shoulder was still throbbing in pain, and though she was sure if needed she could raise her gun to fire off a few rounds, she was hoping she wouldn’t have to. The pain would probably throw her aim off just a bit. 

They made their way to a rarely used closet, holding nothing but cleaning supplies, and because this was Stark’s tower, a handful of unfinished robots, fireworks, weapons, and an Iron Man head. There was also probably alcohol somewhere in here, and though Natasha was more than tempted to find it for a quick drink, she knew they didn’t have any time to waste. Clint was pulling a shelf away from the wall, and pointing to the vent above their heads. “Ok, if I remember right there’s a pretty straight forward path to Stark’s lab from here. Just follow me and we’ll get there in no time. It’s gonna be dark up there, here-“ Hawkey left the shelf he was positioning under the vent, and dug through one of several toolboxes that were at his feet. He came up with two flashlights, and handed one to Natasha who looked skeptical.

“I know, your eyes adjust to the dark really quickly, but mine certainly don’t. This will be a lot easier if I ca actually see where I am going.” Clint smiled at her, eyes darting nervously to her shoulder. Bruce had thickly bandaged it with gauze, but now a few drops of blood had bloomed on the white wrapping. Clint looked away before Natasha noticed and got annoyed. One more reason to get this done quickly- Maybe once the arrows were disabled, and Tony had been put in his place Natasha would agree to seek out more medical care. Or at the very least rest for a little bit.

Natasha took one of the flashlights, and smiled at her partner. “Thanks, how long do you think it’ll be before we get there?” Clint moved some more things off of the shelf he had leaned against the wall, and began climbing up so he could remove the grate on the vent and climb up. “I don’t know, at the most probably ten minutes?As long as we don’t run into any more of those damn arrows we should be fine. The more important question, how can we scare Stark the most before he realizes we’re in his lab?”

Anyone else might have scoffed at Clint, complained that he should be more serious, or said they were sorry Clint was going to lose his private seat for prime Stark watching, but insisted they didn’t have time for one last petty prank. Instead Natasha began rummaging through the closet, searching through the toolboxes, stuffing a few things into her pockets. “Oh, don’t worry, I’ve got just the thing in mind. The creep deserves to have a bit of fear put into him, after he set his arrows loose on us then locked himself up in his stupid little lab. Question, would it be fair for me to shoot him in the shoulder, since he essentially did the same thing to me?” Natasha was smirking when she asked this, Clint wasn’t totally sure if she was joking or not. 

“Um….. Yeah, let’s not do that, that way no one gets sued. Or attacked by an overprotective Iron Man suit. Also, honestly? You’re better than that, the whole eye for an eye thing is so overdone. I hope you’ll be a bit more creative in your revenge.” Clint was up in the vent now, and reached down to give Natasha a helping hand as she climbed up into the vent. He knew she must be hurting from the arrow wound, because she accepted his help without a word of resistance. Now that Natasha was up in the vent with Clint, he saw the wicked grin on her face that he knew (and sometimes feared) so well. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ve got just the thing in mind to get back at him. He’s going to wish he never touched your arrows, or at least wish he had invited us into his super secret protected clubhouse. Lead the way! And don’t forget to watch out for killer arrows.”

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It was nerve wracking climbing through the cramped vents, pausing every time either of them heard a noise in another vent or from a room below them, the claustrophobic darkness making the metal walls around them seem even smaller-This was bad, but honestly both of them had been through much worse than this. Honestly Clint enjoyed crawling around in the vents, he just wasn’t used to being up here in the company of arrows that were hunting for him. And for Natasha this was stressful, but the worst thing about it was that it reminded her of a few nightmarish Red Room exercises she had participated in. 

Now Natasha was biting her lip hard, trying to ignore the jolts of pain searing through her shoulder as she crawled in the vent. She couldn’t help but let out a gasp, and curse under her breathe as her hand slipped under her, and she banged her shoulder into the walls crowding in on her. Clint tried to look behind him, but could’t see much. “You ok Nat?” He asked, mentally berating himself for not making her stay behind. “I’m fine Barton, you of all people should know I’ve fought through worse than this. Come on, let’s just hurry up so we can get this over with.” 

The crawled through the vents a few more moments, as Clint wrestled with the guilt he’d had for most of the day. What a day it had been. First he let her down, and would have been responsible for her death if Cap hadn’t saved her. Then he had to ask Stark to meddle with his arrows, and then…… 

“Nat, I’m so sorry.” He blurted out, unable to hold it in any more. “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t messed up earlier, Cap wouldn’t have had to save you. And I wouldn’t have felt like a useless baby. And then I wouldn’t have asked Stark the idiot to upgrade my arrows, and then you wouldn’t have gotten shot with my arrow. I mean, I am such an idiot. Rogers didn’t let you down, and then the same day I shoot you-“ Natasha interrupted, Clint couldn’t see her face, but it sounded like she was smiling. 

“Wait, are you jealous of the Cap? Is that why you were acting so weird earlier Barton? Oh my gosh, that’s it, were you upset because Steve got that loser with a knife and you didn’t?” Clint was quiet, annoyed he had brought anything up, trying to think of a faster way to get to Starks lab and end this conversation. 

“Clint, come on. We’re all a team now, everyone looks out for each other, thats the whole point of having a team. It means if one person fails to save your life, hopefully someone else will be there to do the job. But Clint, you’re the one I am always going to trust. No matter what. And maybe you didn’t get one bad guy for me today, but you have saved my life at least a hundred times. And I know that no matter what, you are always going to have my back, and do everything that you possibly can to protect me. And I hope you know that I would do the same thing for you. And honestly, isn’t that why you asked Stark to fix up your arrows anyway? So you could better protect….. the team? You didn’t know this would happen. Ok, Stark might have done some of this on purpose, but I know you didn’t plan any of this. You were just trying to protect us. It’s not like you wanted to shoot me…. At least hopefully you didn’t.”

Clint felt a rush of relief flow through him. He didn’t know what to say, but luckily they had arrived at the vent above Stark’s lab. Hopefully they could talk more about this later- Now, it was time to scare a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist.  
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Natasha doled out the supplies she had grabbed from the closet, along with a special toy she had snagged in Bruce’s lab. Tony was puttering around the lab, the dissected body of a failed iron man suit scattered all over various tables. He was blaring rock and roll music, and looked far too pleased with himself. Maybe if he had looked the least bit concerned, or had been trying to fix the arrows instead of trying to figure out how to get his latest suit to breather underwater, Clint and Nat would have shown him some mercy. But, he wasn’t, so they didn’t.

They unscrewed the vent from the wall, but still held it in place so Tony wouldn’t see anything suspicious. Then, Clint took the rubber bands and office supplies that Natasha had found in the closet, and quickly made a makeshift bow and arrow. He aimed it between the slats of the vent, and shot a rubber band so it hit a beaker on the edge of a table, knocking it off, and shattering on the ground. Tony jerked violently at the sound, and glanced over at the broken glass. He glanced around the lab, and apparently thinking it was just another explosion he had accidentally made, Tony shrugged and went back to his suit.

Then Clint shot a rubber band at the neon Iron Man light hanging above a desk, it broke noisily, and sparks flew from it. Tony looked even more alarmed at this, and run over to turn the light off. His eyes were roaming around the room now, he definitely looked panicked. He ran over, punched a button on his laptop and Jarvis’s voice flooded the room. “Ah, indeed, I see that you are allowing me to speak with you again sir. What a pleasure.” “Jarvis, who’s doing this? What’s going on?” Natasha and Clint were both smirking as Jarvis said what they had asked him to. “Oh, I do not detect anything that could be causing this, sir. Might these be accidents? And speaking of accents, I must ask about these arrows-“ Tony tapped another button, and Jarvis was gone. 

“Yeeah, that’ll be fine. It’s my day off, the rest of the team will handle this. Heh.” Tony was cleaning up the broken light, when Clint loaded his arrow, and set loose several arrows breaking a half dozen bottles above Tony’s bar. Iron Man let out a yelp now, and looked seriously freaked as he ducked away from the sound, and then ran over to check it out, muttering nervously about idiots breaking his expensive alcohol, and swearing to get whoever was behind this. 

Now that he was nervous, and distracted, Natasha dropped down from the vent, and rolled under a table where she wouldn’t be seen. She reached up and grabbed Tony’s laptop, tapping a few buttons that let Jarvis speak again. It had taken a bit of creativity to instal a program that encouraged Jarvis to say what she wanted him to, now she was glad she’d secretly installed it a few months ago. She started typing quickly, and Jarvis’s voice spoke. 

“Sir, I would appreciate it if you did not continue to turn me on and off, I would like to speak with you.” Tony turned away from his spilled alcohol, his eyes practically bugging out of his head. “Jar- Jarvis, what the hell? I didn’t give you access to be in here right now. What the hell!!?!?!” Natasha rolled her eyes. People could be so redundant when they were scared. Jarvis’s friendly voice added a lot to the eeriness of the entire situation. 

“Well, sir, it seems that as you are responsible for these arrows attacking your team, maybe you should be doing something to help them. And not playing with another one of your toys.” Tony was stammering, looking for words, eyes glancing towards his Iron Man suits, wondering if he needed to put one on. “I couldn’t figure out how to deprogram the arrows, I thought it would be better to let the team get rid of them for me.” 

Natasha typed a few more words for Jarvis to say, grinning gleefully, she had already started to deprogram the arrows, it would only take a few more minutes to mess Tony up. “Sir. It seems that you are being very inconsiderate, and as your team has paid for you foolishly giving up on reprograming the arrows, it’s time for you to pay for abandoning them.” And with that Natasha punched a key on the computer, and all of the lights in the lab went off.

Tony’s scream would have been enough revenge- Maybe it would have been, if one of the arrows hadn’t hurt the Black Widow. But she was mad, and she still wanted to mess with him a bit more. Her eyes adjusted to the dark quickly, and she was soon moving through the lab silently, following the loud noises Tony was making as he blundered around the room knocking things down, and nervously babbling to Jarvis, who Tasha had again turned off. 

Natasha was holding the taser she had grabbed from Bruce’s lab in her hand, making just enough noise as she moved towards Tony to suitably terrify him. He was moving closer to his suits, so Natasha knew she had to act fast before she got another injury from Tony. She crooned softly so Tony could hardly hear her, finger just above the button that would turn the taser off. 

“Tony….. I’m so glad you’ve been safe in here. I was so worried about you… We all were. When arrows were chasing us, and we were running for our lives, and then again when I got real close to one of your arrows. You know, when it shot me in the shoulder.” Tony emitted a decidedly unmanly sound of fear, and Natasha swore she could hear Clint muffling his laughter from the vent. Tony’s was babbling in a high pitched voice. 

“Romanoff, Romanoff, is that you? Black Widow? I was going to invite all of you in here, I swear!! It’s just that someone had to get rid of those arrows, and you guys were the best equipped to handle them!! An arrow didn’t shoot you, right? RIGHT? I SWEAR THAT WASN’T MY FAULT, PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!! I’LL GIVE YOU MONEY! I’LL STOP GIVING YOU SPIDER NICKNAMES, IT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN! WHERE ARE YOU!?! DON’T KILL ME!!!!” Ok, yeah, he definitely sounded more than freaked out now- And Natasha was positive she heard Clint trying not to laugh. 

Tony was stumbling blindly around the office, trying to find something to protect himself before Natasha found him. She spoke just softly enough to send chills down his back. “Oh Stark, I’m not going to kill you…. I’m just going to hurt you.” The last thing Tony saw was the blinding light of a taser, and Natasha Romanoff’s terrifying smile. His last thought as volts of electricity buzzed through his body, was that he wished he hadn’t worked with Bruce on this new and improved taser. 

Natasha turned the lights back on, and by the time a laughing Hawkeye climbed down out of the vent, she was already well on her way to turning off the arrows. Clint poked Stark with his shoe, and grinned at his partner. “Watching you work, makes me really glad we’re on the same side Nat.” Natasha just smiled, and tossed Clint the device in her hand. “Here, if he wakes up soon, we should be able to give him another zap without permanent injury, and since he messed up your arrows, that honor should go to you.” Clint gleefully took the taser, and stood guard over Tony, nudging him non to softly, hoping he would wake up a bit soon.  
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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a mess -_- Please feed the author with reviews!!! Also, I know I said the lab was a safe place, but also said arrows could go though the vents. So technically the lab should not be safe. Let’s just ignore that, move on, and never mention it again. I could have explained this somehow, but it probably would have cost a few hundred words of dull dialogue…….. Seriously, please review!!!!! I thrive off of them, and they make me so very happy!!!


	7. Chapter 7

“Oh my god, Natasha, you killed him.” Bruce said, as he entered Tony’s lab and saw the unconscious man still on the floor. Natasha had summoned him to the lab, because it turned out the arrows were a bit harder to stop than she first thought, and she needed a bit of help. Now Black Widow just rolled her eyes at Bruce, and continued rapidly typing away at one of Stark’s laptops. 

“That’s an exaggeration. Barton and I just scared him, we might have used one of your tasers to give him a taste of his own medicine. It’s nothing, he deserved it.” Bruce threw his hands up in the air. “Natasha! Tony and I were designing those to try and knock out THE OTHER GUY! They are not meant to be used on humans!” Natasha’s eyes flickered over him, trying to evaluate if The Hulk was in danger of making an appearance or not. Deciding Banner had this in control, she turned her attention back to the computer.

“OK, fine so he might not wake up till tomorrow. Whatever, he’ll be fine. If he’s not awake by tomorrow or has sustained any brain damage, I’ll take all responsibility, I mean, I won’t take care of him, but you can tell people it’s my fault. And Clint’s.” The archer glanced up when he heard his name, and stopped poking Iron Man with the tip of an arrow to see if he could wake him up. “What? How is this my fault too? I didn’t tell you to zap him with an untested taser! I don’t want to get sued when Stark gets up, leave me out of this!” Natasha shot back, “Your arrows started this whole mess,and trust me, I can convince Tony it is completely your fault he got zapped. I’ll tell him you told me to do it, and you know who he would believe. You KNOW who he’s scared of.” 

Clint groaned, and tossed the arrow he was poking the billionaire with onto the table. Bruce honestly wasn’t sure if the two assassins were fighting or flirting. He didn’t have time to wonder this now, he had more important things to deal with- (Though in the bet the team currently had going, Banner had his money on Strike Team Delta being in some kind of a romantic relationship.) “Ok, Natasha did you let me in here so I could listen to you guys argue, or do you actually need my help? I have a med kit in here….. I can look at Tony and see if he needs to go to a hospital……” Bruce barely had the reflexes needed to catch the laptop Natasha whipped at him. “Nah, Barton’s got Stark. Clint, um, get the med kit see if there’s anything that can wake up people who have been attacked with a super taser. Banner, Tony royally messed up these arrows, I need help deprograming them before they get out of the tower, and we have injured civilians and a hell of a lot of bad publicity on our hands.” 

At these words Bruce flipped open the computer he had been handed, and soon Black Widow and Banner were lost in a world of decryption, numbers, corrupted programs, coding and passwords. On the opposite side of the room, Clint was stuck staring at the still unresponsive Iron Man, wondering how much of this was really his fault. Maybe he should have pointed out to Nat that the taser had an “in testing" label on it, but she was the one who actually used the thing! Clint had nothing to do with this.

Ugh, he couldn’t lie to himself. Part of this was his fault. If Tony didn’t wake up soon and Pepper found out about this, she was going to try and kill him. At least because she wouldn’t be able to so much as scratch Nat, and Clint was the next one in line who was responsible for this. Maybe Natasha would protect him? No, she would probably watch Stark’s girlfriend try and beat Clint up, and laugh. Better try and wake the millionaire idiot up now, before Pepper got back to the tower and found out……… 

Clint asked where the med kit was, and Banner waved a hand in the general direction of a cabinet, then went back to typing furiously, muttering to Nat about codes and wave lengths. Clint opened the cabinet, and grabbed the first aid kit he found, along with a bottle of scotch he noticed. It might be useful to wake Stark up. If that didn’t work, maybe Clint could find a few hundred dollar bills and wave them under the Billionaires nose like smelling salts.

Tony’s hair was sticking up in all directions, even his facial hair had gotten zapped out of control. Ok, this was to good of a opportunity to pass up. Clint whipped out his phone and snapped a half dozen photos, and considered drawing on Tony’s face with a permanent marker, but then decided he would be mad enough at Clint when he woke up as it is. No need to fuel the inevitable explosion. 

Clint opened up the first aid kit- And honestly was not sure what would help. Bandaids, antibiotics, rubbing alcohol, lots of useful stuff, but not exactly anything that would be good for waking someone up. What exactly was he supposed to do here? 

Barton was crouched on the floor next to Stark, pondering the contents of the med-kit, wondering if it would be smarter to pour some scotch down Tony’s throat and see if that helped, or try a few random pills and see what they did. Then, the archer happened to glance under the table he was next to, and he saw a small black device. Oh, he must have dropped the taser sometime after Nat handed it to him…… Too bad he wasn’t going to get a chance to use it now. Wait, unless…. Maybe it could help?

A little voice in the back of his head told Clint this probably was not the best idea, and might cause more harm than good. Luckily Clint was very good at ignoring that little voice, and doing whatever he wanted anyway. Sure, it led to him doing some stupid things, but it wasn’t like anyone got good stories out of doing reasonable stuff. 

Clint flicked the taser on, and watched the electric light spark along the top, and for a brief second wondered if he should at least ask Banner if this idea was totally stupid. But he did seem awfully busy at the moment. Eh, what’s the worst it could do? Without another thought Clint tapped the taser down against Stark’s shoulder, then quickly yanked it away. Tony’s entire body convulsed- And Clint heaved a sigh of relief when the other mans eyes flew open in shock. 

“aaaAAAAAURGH WHAT THE HELL???” Tony roared, sitting up abruptly, scrambling to get a grip on what was happening. His hair almost looked like it was smoking now…… At least he was awake. He definitely looked freaked out though. “Where is she??? She’s gonna get me!” Stark babbled, clearly still a bit out of it. Clint wondered if maybe he should start filming this, it would be internet gold….. “Um, who’s after you?” Clint asked, smirking. “Spidey, your girlfriend, Black Widow!!!! She was in here, and she zapped me, one of the arrows shot her, and she’s going to kill me!!” 

Clint smirked, “She’s not going to kill you you idiot, then Fury would want to kill her. And she would have to kill him too, then Shield would go after her, and she would have to go on the run with me, and honestly that is just too much trouble. She was just messing with you dude, calm down. She let you live. For now.” Tonys eyes still looked larger than usual, but after a couple minutes he’d calmed down a little. 

“Barton…. Did one of the arrows really get her?” Clint nodded, and Stark groaned and put his head in his hands. “Oh my god, she is never going to let me forget that…. I am going to live the rest of my life terrified she’s going to pop out of somewhere and gut me like a fish.” Clint did not deny this, instead he offered the bottle of Scotch he had found to Tony, who took it without saying anything. 

Soon enough Tony had smoothed his hair down, and was standing next to Bruce, nervously keeping away from Natasha, trying to help get the arrows down, in the hopes that doing so would make Black Widow would forgive him. He was obviously terrified. It didn’t help Nat kept giving him dark glares, and muttering in Russian when rubbing her shoulder. Clint knew it was all an act, she wasn’t that mad anymore. It was still beyond fun to watch though. 

It only took three computer geniuses seven computers, two hard drives, a half bottle of scotch, thirteen minutes of hard work, and four minutes of furious arguing before they figured out how to finally shut the arrows down.   
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Next chapter will be the last one, but I plan on starting a new story about different times Clint has spied on Tony in his lab through the vents, and played pranks on him!! Would any of you read that maybe? I just think it would be fun… Please review!!!!!!!


	8. Chapter 8

“Hey, why are you up here?” Natasha asked Clint. They were up on top of Avengers Tower, Clint didn’t know how long he’d been here. He knew why he was here though. He was trying to get rid of the guilt eating him up inside, and avoiding Nat. But clearly wanted to be found by her- If he really wanted to avoid Natasha he wouldn’t have come up to the first place she would come looking for him. 

“Oh, um, I'm just avoiding Thor, he was asking about musicals and you know I can’t stand those. So, I’m hiding up here till he’s done watching Hairspray or whatever.” Natasha lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, that explains why he was watching Annie with Banner. Mind if I join you?” Clint smiled, and patted the ground. “Sure, grab some concrete, help yourself.” Natasha sat down next to him, and he smiled at her. “Are you feeling better? I mean, I’m sure you feel awful since you refuse to take pain killers…..” She smirked, “Actually Banner convinced me to take something, I feel fine. Thanks for asking. Trust me, I am totally ok Barton. Stop obsessing.” 

Clint raised an eyebrow. “What? What are you even talking about, I’m not obsessing about anything. Just up here thinking about, um, dogs.” Natasha scoffed, “Dogs? For three and a half hours?” Clint shrugged, “Yeah…. You know, there are so many different kinds, and they know tricks, and there are puppies and they’re fun to think about….” Natasha sighed. “You’re obsessing Hawk. You missed dinner, and according to Jarvis you haven’t moved from this spot since you got up here. And spending almost four hours thinking about dogs? Not even you would do that. Come on, admit it, today was crap, and you can’t stop thinking about it.” Clint grimaced, “No, I’m not, I’m fine. You don’t know what I was thinking about up here."

“No, I don’t, but I do know you Barton. You care too much, and you beat yourself up over stupid little things that aren't your fault, and once you get an idiotic idea stuck in your head you refuse to let it go. That’s not always a bad thing…. like when you got the idea to learn how to shoot your bow with a broken arm, that was idiotic but it came in handy, right? Or when you were supposed to murder one of Shield’s greatest enemies, and instead got the idea to take her in, and make her your partner.” Natasha gazed into Clint’s eyes for a beat, unblinking. “But I know what is going around and around in your head right now Clint. You think it’s your fault I got hurt. You think because for the first time in years you didn’t have my back for a split second, that I am going to trust Rogers more than you, Or that I will never trust you again.”

Clint’s face flushed with embarrassment, and he looked away out towards the city. He knew he was being stupid, but those thoughts and more had all run through his head. Even though they had talked earlier, Clint still felt guilty about everything that had happened today. He also knew Natasha’s past, remembered how long it had taken for the trust between the two of them to grow. He had spent the last hour or so sitting up here wondering how much of their partnership he had undone with a few dumb mistakes today. 

“No, I’m fine Nat….. It’s ok, it’s just that-“ Natasha sighed in frustration, reached out grabbed Clint’s chin to pull him towards her, and kissed him into silence for a minute. “Stop thinking about it Clint. I trust you, you trust me. People make mistakes, and we learn from them. I don’t want to talk about this anymore, I don’t want you getting weirdly overprotective of me in the field. I want you to move on from this, ok?” All Clint could do was nod, because suddenly Natasha was kissing him again, and all Clint could think of was her lips against his, the feel of her hair tangled in his hands, and the joy he was feeling that she was alive and ok, that they were here and together. 

Natasha pulled away, a smile toying at edges of her lips. “Here. I got you something, open it.” She pulled a small box out of her jacket pocket, and held it out to Clint. She was really smiling now. Barton grinned, “Wow, if you buy me gifts just for feeling guilty and obsessing over stupid stuff I’ve done, I might have to do it more often. Think if I feel crushing guilt over letting Stark get shot next mission, he would feel so bad about it he would make me an Iron Man suit? You know, so I’d feel better?” Natasha rolled her eyes. “It’s Stark, Barton. He’d make a suit for anyone who showed the least interest in wanting one. I went down to his lab last week and he was fitting the pizza delivery guy for one, he was going to make it shoot Pizza Rolls and marinara sauce. Said he was going to Avenge everyone who ordered a bad pizza or something stupid like that.” 

Clint lifted an eyebrow. “Wait, are you serious? That sounds awesome…. Think of the possibilities! If you order a bad pizza, you can shine the Pizza Light into the sky, to call for Pizza Man! Like Bat Man only instead of beating up bad guys, he brings you food! Please tell me Stark made this suit, and we now have a pizza making superhero on the team.” Natasha whacked his arm, “Barton! No, we do not have Captain Pizza on our team. At least not yet…. Just forget about it, open the box already.”

Smirking, Hawkeye grabbed the small velvet covered box, and lifted the lid. Inside, was a necklace, a gleaming arrow charm resting on top of the silver chain under it. Confused, Clint lifted the necklace from the box, and glanced at his partner. She almost looked unsure, like she was rethinking this, wondering if it was a stupid idea. “It’s beautiful Romanoff…. I’m not much a jewelry person though. Do you want me to wear it? I mean, I totally will if you want…. It just looks a bit too- elegant for my taste.” Natasha laughed, and hit his arm again. It hurt, but he hardly felt it, he was so caught up in the sound of her laughter. 

“No, the last thing I want is for you to wear a necklace bird brain. But, I saw that and I thought of you….. And I thought if you wanted to give it to me, I might be convinced to wear it. That way it would be like one of your arrows is always protecting me, even if you aren’t there to shoot it. It could be like my good luck charm, or something stupid like that.” Clint fiddled with the necklace in his hand, “I thought you didn’t believe in luck, Nat.” She shook her head, “I don’t. But, you do, and I think this will make you feel better….. And it will remind me of you when I have to go with Cap to DC next week. And when I talk about this, I feel really dumb about it….. So just, give me the necklace or put it on or something now, before I throw the damn thing off the side of this building.” It was hard to tell in the pink light of the sunset, but Clint thought his partner was blushing. 

Before she could run off, or throw the necklace away, Clint quickly put it around her neck, and closed the clasp. It looked beautiful on her, as if it belonged there.   
She reached up and grabbed the arrow, “Thank you Barton, I love it. Very sweet of you to give it to me.” Clint laughed, and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I know your just doing this to humor me, and make my crazy mind feel less guilty about almost letting you die, and then having one of my arrows shoot you. But it worked. Thank you Nat, this is a great present.” 

He wrapped his arms around her,and she leaned her head back against his chest, together they watched as the sun finished setting. Once only the moon and the stars were shedding their light on the two assassins, Natasha spoke. “So, I have a couple days before Rogers and I need to leave for DC. Think we can pull a few more pranks on Stark for payback before then?” Clint chuckled, “I’m sure that we can think of something fun to torture him with…."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I actually finished a story, lately I never seem to do that!!!! Haha!!! Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting this. Every response to this story has meant so much to me :) If you want more please check out my story A Different Life, or wait for me to post the new story I mentioned about Clint spying on Tony in his lab!!! The story is over, but reviews are still open!!! If you enjoyed this story at all, please please please leave a review!!!!!


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